xiv, 493 pages ; 24 cm

"Starting his story at the birth of agriculture, Kingsbury traces the history of human attempts to make plants more reliable, productive, and nutritious--a story that owes as much to accident and error as to innovation and experiment. Drawing on historical and scientific accounts, as well as a rich trove of anecdotes, Kingsbury shows how scientists, amateur breeders, and countless anonymous farmers and gardeners slowly caused the evolutionary pressures of nature to be supplanted by those of human needs--and thus led us from sparse wild grasses to succulent corn cobs, and from mealy, white wild carrots to the juicy vegetables we enjoy today. At the same time, Kingsbury reminds us that contemporary controversies over the Green Revolution and genetically modified crops are not new; plant breeding has always had a political dimension. A powerful reminder of the complicated and ever-evolving relationship between humans and the natural world, Hybrid will give readers a thoughtful new perspective on--and a renewed appreciation of--the cereal crops, vegetables, fruits, and flowers that are central to our way of life."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction -- PART ONE: FROM THE BIRTH OF AGRICULTURE TO THE BIRTH OF GENETICS: Origins: the domestication of plants -- Landraces: bedrock of the traditional agriculture -- "Improvement": the agricultural revolution -- Vegetable mules: the beginning of deliberate breeding -- Empire: globalization in earnest -- Breakthrough: Gregor Mendel --Germination and plant breeding in the early Twentieth Century --Luther Burbank: miracle worker or charlatan? -- "Let history judge": plant breeding and politics in the USSR -- PART TWO: FLOWERING OF A TECHNOLOGY: Hybrid! Corn and the brave new world -- Cornucopia: genetics opens up the horn of plenty --Green revolution: can plant breeding feed the world? -- Ornament: furnishing our gardens -- Ownership and diversity: issues of property rights over plant genetic resources -- Conclusions

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews